Director Miro Laiho's 30-minute short psychological horror film is produced by Blind Spot Pictures and currently in pre-production. It is part of the final thesis of Laiho, cinematographer Jaakko Tuure and film editor Ville Hakonen. It is currently applying for funding and searching for collaborators.


The film's original website is http://shortfilm8.com. There you can view the teaser, concept art, pre-production making of - material and much more! The website and the interactive teaser are part of production design student Juha Lindstedt's final thesis work.

The marketing methods of the film has been innovative by using an interactive teaser and the social network, for example. Visit and like the film's Facebook Page.
Logline

“8” is a short psychological horror film about people, who have to relive their worst memories and re-experience their most horrible traumas all over again.


Synopsis

Linda is a young psychology student, who wants to help his boyfriend Riku, who has fallen into a state of psychosis by taking him to a mystical cave, where human subconscious and memories start to live their own life. Linda soon realises that she can’t help Riku, before she has faced her own most painful traumas.

Word from the director

Do you really know a person before you know his darkest secrets? Can you see a human being behind his actions and forgive him? Are you capable of reaching a peace of mind before confronting your most painful memories?
These are the themes I wanted to explore in the 30-35 - minute psychological horror film “8.”

“8” looks inside the fractured mind of man and through the darkness that lives in us all. It also explores the powerful defence mechanisms that protect us from going insane. We all have a trauma we don’t want to remember, so we deny it, alter the memory or forget it completely. What happens if the defence mechanisms fail and when reality and chaotic illusion both start to fight for their existence?

The film is based on the theory of 8 circuits of consciousness created by Timothy Leary in the 1960’s and 70’s. He believed that the human mind could be divided to eight circuits, the active four on the left hemisphere and four hidden circuits on the right one. When opened, the hidden circuits would allow man to use telepathy, join a universal collective consciousness and finally reach an enlightenment exceeding time and space.

Leary’s experiments involved meditation, yoga and a heavy use of psychedelic drugs. Even though the film adapts ideas from the theory, it still doesn’t stand behind Leary’s methods or experiments and doesn’t want to glorify drug use in any way. Also, the violence in the film is shown in its brutality and is not romanticized.

My dream is to raise the awareness of Finnish genre film on an international level, because I think that we Finns have the potential to create not only the everyday drama or comedy films but something more out of our crazy imagination. “8” merges dark drama to psychological horror reaching surreal levels. In the film, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” meets David Lynch and, in places, a crude realism.

I’ve always been fascinated by the structure of human mind and how we maintain defence mechanisms and therefore a certain false identity, unable to find our true selves. If we could face difficult things and have the courage to be ourselves, it would be much easier to live. I hope that “8” evokes thoughts about finding one’s self, seeing humanity and believing in the healing power of love. As humans we are all alike and we must learn to help one another.

Miro Laiho
Writer / director
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